Rich Hill may have dodged a bullet, based on what he told Daniel Bard

The Red Sox are holding hope that lefty reliever Rich Hill escaped serious structural damage to his left forearm and elbow after leaving the game injured during the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 7-4 loss to the White Sox at Fenway Park. Hill was sent for an MRI on his left arm after grabbing his left elbow following a walk to Adam Dunn. Initial physical tests at Fenway indicated the left-hander might have avoided serious structural damage, including a major injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (also known as the Tommy John ligament) in the elbow.

“I think Rich is OK, from what I heard … He passed all the testing for [the ulnar collateral ligament],” said Daniel Bard, the Red Sox reliever who came on immediately after Hill left the game in the seventh. “They think it was just scar tissue that popped. Hopefully, that’s the case and hopefully, he’s OK.”They did all the tests and he said it was no structural damage is all I know. It’s terrible. I don’t want to see it happen to anyone, our team or another team. It’s the pitcher’s worst nightmare. Hopefully, he’ll be OK.”

During the game, the team initially announced a left forearm injury for Hill before sending the pitcher for further tests.

“He felt some obvious discomfort in his forearm,” added Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “Just on his cursory examination, he actually looked OK, which is good. But certainly when somebody comes off the mound like that, we have to get him checked thoroughly, and we will. Hopefully, we’ll know a little more tonight.”